Shaking Hands and Breaking Hearts
by FunkyBubble14
Summary: A short story built off of an idea I got from reading The First Day of Spring, by M–dog14NCISgeek. From somewhat earlier days of Rose and Albert's relationship. Summaries are not my forte.


**Shaking Hands and Breaking Hearts**

**A/N– Huge thanks to M–dog14NCISgeek**** for this story! Gracious enough to let me take an idea from The First Day of Spring (which all of you should be sure to check out!) and build off of it. I do not own Bye Bye Birdie**,** and I don't own a** **lot of the plot either. Enjoy!**

Five minutes would have been nothing.

Fifteen minutes would have been forgivable, easily.

An hour would have been excusable, had he come with a decent excuse.

But three hours?

Three hours made Rose furious.

It was the second time that month that Albert had asked Rose to dinner and then failed to show up. To make it worse, it was the _twelfth_ time that year.

Usually Rose would go home after, and drown her sorrows in some kind of alcohol or another. She'd go to bed heartbroken, not even bothering to remove her makeup, smeared from crying.

Before Albert had started asking Rose to dinner, she would never have shown up at work hungover. But after it became normal for Rose to sit alone at a restaurant for hours when she _should_ have been spending time with Albert, she made it a point to show up hungover. It was her way of getting back at Albert. Making him feel guilty for what he had done, and kept doing, to Rose.

The morning after, Albert would always apologize, and Rose would always forgive him.

That night, Rose decided to do something different. She had had enough of Albert breaking her heart and expecting to be given a second chance.

Instead of going home to her small apartment, Rose went to Albert's. At Rose's urging, he had finally moved out of the one he had shared with his mother and gotten one of his own. And Rose had the only spare key.

She pounded madly on his door. Then she remembered to wipe the tears from her face before Albert opened the door; she wanted to be angry at him, not hurt and broken-looking. Impatient, hardly a minute went by before she knocked again, yelling for Albert and demanding he come out.

"This is ridiculous," Rose muttered. She dug the spare key out of her purse and let herself into the apartment.

"Albert, you had better have a good excuse for standing me up tonight, _again!_" she called into the apartment, hoping her voice wouldn't break and betray what she was really feeling. Kitchen and living room were empty. "It's not the first time it's happened, and I am sick of it!"

Still no Albert.

"Oh, where is he?" she muttered. The last door in the apartment must lead to his bedroom, Rose decided, and she threw it open and stormed inside.

Immediately, Rose knew something was wrong.

She had found Albert. He was sitting on the floor at the base of his bed, knees pulled up tight to his chest as if he were a small child. Tears streamed down his face and it looked as though he were struggling to breathe. He hadn't even noticed Rose had entered the room.

"Oh, Albert," Rose murmured, all thoughts of anger disappearing at once. She threw her purse to the floor and dropped to her knees at Albert's side. Rose placed a hand on his arm and he jumped violently, suddenly realizing she was there.

"R–rose?" he stammered through sobs. "Wh–what are you doing here?"

"Shh," Rose said. "That's not important right now, Albert." She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight and rubbing a hand soothingly up and down his back.

"You're all right," she murmured. "Just breathe, Albert. Just breathe."

He let out a huge, gasping sob and slowly, slowly began to relax, uncurling from the tight ball of limbs he was before. As Albert began to calm down, Rose started to press kisses to his cheek, finally turning and sitting on his lap, one shoulder to his chest. She wrapped her arms around him again and waited until he got his breathing under control, so he could speak without stuttering and shaking.

"Albert," Rose said after a while. "What happened? Why were you so upset?"

Albert sniffled. "How long were you at the restaurant, Rose?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

He sighed. "How long did you wait for me at the restaurant?"

Rose leaned her head against Albert's chest._ I don't think this is the sort of answer he_ _needs right now._

"Three hours," she admitted.

Albert moaned pitifully and threw his head back, fresh tears coming to his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Rose!" he cried. "I'm s–so sorry. I tried to come, I really did, I just–"

"Albert, Albert! It's all right," Rose said gently. "I'm not mad at you." _I was. But I'm_ _not now. How could I be? _"I just want to know what happened. Why couldn't you come?"

"This happened," he said, gesturing sadly to himself. "I let myself get too worked up, too n–nervous at the thought of having dinner with you. I wanted to, but I got scared. I couldn't do it, Rose, and next thing I know I'm sitting here and I can't even b–breathe properly. I hate it, it's pathetic, I–"

"It's not pathetic, Albert," Rose insisted. "It's– it's understandable. I get nervous about things too. You should have seen me before my interview for Almaelou," she said with a small laugh. "I was shaking all over, I was so nervous."

For a brief moment, Albert smiled. Then he sighed and bowed his head.

"But getting nervous about this... this _is_ pathetic. I've known you for six years, Rose, and I can't even find the nerve to sit across from you at a table and have dinner together! I hate it. You deserve so much better than this, I can't keep doing this to you–"

"Wait," Rose interrupted. "Do you mean this has happened before?"

Albert nodded sadly. "Every time I didn't show up to dinner, it was because I was too scared to. Sometimes I'd get as far as forcing myself out of the apartment, maybe even to the elevator... but I'd be shaking and struggling to breathe before I could get out of the building. So I'd just turn back, sit here, and try to figure out how to apologize to you the next day."

Rose's heart clenched. If he pushed himself that much on days he didn't show, what must he have done to himself on days when he did come to dinner with her?

"What about the other days?" Rose asked. "What did you do differently on the days you could come?"

"I stayed at the office and did paperwork. I kept my mind off of you and dinner for as long as possible. That way I didn't leave myself enough time to get anxious and start worrying."

"And this has never happened at the office?"

Albert shook his head. "It's different when we're working. Because then you're my secretary, not my..."

"Not your girlfriend," Rose finished.

"When I can tell myself it's a work relationship, I don't get nervous around you. It's only outside the office that it happens."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rose asked softly.

"Huh?"

"Why didn't you tell me this was why you never showed up to dinner, Albert? I just assumed you forgot, or you had changed your mind and didn't want to come. If I had known, I never would have gotten so mad at you."

"I couldn't, Rose," he whispered. "I was embarrassed. Ashamed. I didn't want you to know what a worthless man you had fallen in love with."

"Albert!" Rose said sharply. "You are _not_ worthless. And you're not pathetic, either. Don't you dare tell yourself that you are."

"But–"

"You're not, Albert," Rose insisted gently. "You're a wonderful man and I love you, exactly how you are."

"You shouldn't. You deserve someone better than me."

Rose sighed. "I don't want someone else, Albert." She placed a hand on his cheek and made him look at her. "I want you. All right?"

"I–"

Rose raised an eyebrow at him, and Albert laughed softly. "All right."

Rose grinned and gave him a gentle kiss. Before she could pull away, Albert reached out and cupped Rose's cheek, holding her in place so he could kiss her back.

Rose smiled when he let her go. "Would you like to try again tomorrow night?"

Albert looked panicked again. "Rose, I–"

"We don't have to if you don't want to!" Rose said quickly. "But I thought maybe I could come here first, and we could walk to the restaurant together. If that would be easier for you." Albert still looked apprehensive.

"Or we could do something more casual," Rose suggested, leaning against Albert's chest again. "We could get coffee together. Or I could pick up take-out and bring it here. Would that be better?"

Albert hesitated before nodding, lifting an arm to wrap around Rose, holding her tight. Rose smiled and snuggled closer.

"I may not be very good at showing it," Albert mumbled, "but I love you, Rosie."

"I know, Albert. I know."

**Thank you so much for reading, please review!**


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